


The Will and The Power

by hecatefromthedarkness



Category: Knives Out (2019)
Genre: F/M, Ransom Drysdale Being an Asshole, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:08:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22164610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hecatefromthedarkness/pseuds/hecatefromthedarkness
Summary: Ransom didn't kill his grandfather but he is still an asshole.So, I must apologize to all you for my horrible grammar. English is no my language.Many thanks to PinkFluffyBabboonButt, who corrected all my mistakes.Thanks for reading.
Relationships: Marta Cabrera/Ransom Drysdale
Comments: 16
Kudos: 280





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was in my brain. I had to get it out.

Two weeks after Mr. Stevens read the will and all the accusations were thrown at her, everything was settling in. Sort of speak. She still received phone calls from the Thrombey clan. While Linda Drysdale placed a lawsuit against Harlan’s will.

Mr. Stevens had explained to her that there was nothing they could do to her since Harlan was in a rational mind when he changed the will. 

Walt was a different situation. He had visited her at her apartment, subtlety threatened her with informing ICE about the migrant status of her mother. Walt’s little white supremacist engaged in a twitter battle with Alicia ever since. She thanked God she wasn’t drawn to social media like her little sister.

After being accused of sleeping with Harlan by Linda and Richard, the lowest point so far was Meg’s phone call. Marta understood her position. She wasn’t aware if Meg knew about her mother's fraudulent behavior, getting the double amount of money for Meg’s matriculation. But Marta knew that regardless of Joni's lies, Meg still needed help with her tuition. Meg called to ask her for help and during the confusion, she told her that would be taking care of. This was before she heard something that made her change her mind. Meg forgot to hang up the phone when she informed the rest of the family that she intended to keep the money for herself. 

She considered Meg a friend. She could cope with the Drysdale’s accusations. They always treated her as part of the help, not even as Harlan’s nurse. Walt kept patronizing her and pretending to know her. She never paid much attention to Jacob other than Harlan could say about him. She considered him young and gullible and hoped that at some point in his life he comes into sense.

Of all of them, Ransom was the only one who has taken the news as a big joke. He didn’t show up at the funeral and early in the night of Harlan’s death, he stormed off out Harlan’s office after the two of them were heard yelling at each other. Later it dawned on her that he might have known about his grandfather's decision. 

And then came the accusations of the possibility of her killing Harlan. But, how could she? Even if she wanted to kill him, which she didn’t, the toxicology report said otherwise. She had given him the right amount of medication. His heart had failed. Marta had no idea of Harlan's last laugh at the expenses of his family. She was as awestruck as the Thrombeys when she heard the Will. To think that the previous night Walt was telling her that he would take care of her and that he had been outvoted in whether she would be invited to the funeral. 

Marta let that one slide, she learned this after working three years in a hospital that everybody mourns in different ways. 

She decided to keep the money. She wanted to honor Harlan's memories. He wasn’t naïve either she knew how much this would change her life. She was far more excited about legalizing her mother’s status and Alicia’s college than anything else. She was starting to view all this money as a burden. 

Her mind would drift away wondering why Harlan would leave the money, the publishing company and the estate to her. Mr. Thrombey wasn’t a bad man. On the contrary, he was kind and didn’t hold any prejudice like the rest of his family. Even Linda who claimed she attained her success working from the ground up.

Well, when your father is filthy rich, and your last name is Thrombey many options and opportunities seemed to be open. 

Mr. Thrombey was a proud man in many ways. And why wouldn’t he be? The only problem was he held everybody else in the same high regard that he held himself.  
He would often say how Neil was the only good Thrombey and that was why he was taken early from this earth. 

“Linda only thinks about making money. There’s more to life than that. I didn’t become a writer because I wanted to be rich. I did it because I couldn’t stop writing, for the art and giving the reader a thrill. Walt is the same as Linda, the only difference is that he hasn’t stepped out of my shadow. Not that I mind him working on the publishing company, I wish he could stand on his own. The only one that seems to have potential is Ransom but his lazy upbringing won’t let him accomplish anything in this life. He lacks the willpower to break from it. The boy is spoiled beyond help. He wouldn’t recognize a real knife from a fake one.”

As Marta saw it, not everybody has to be successful. Not everybody has to build great things. The world was filled with people who were more than happy with having a simple, boring life. People who find fulfillment in quiet and every day without grandiosity. As old and wise as Mr. Harlan could be, this concept seemed to avoid him somehow. Which made her wonder what did he see in her that prompted him to disown his own family and favored her?

As always Ransom Drysdale was late. The land, the mansion and some of its contents may be hers, but there were still many items that the Thrombeys had to move out of the house. Linda was one of the first to arrive early that morning.

“I won’t take much with me since I plan to recover every single penny, every single inch of land.” She announced.

Ransom didn’t have much in the house. A stack of books, photographs and old trinkets that probably didn’t fit with his high-end apartment in uptown Boston. 

Her mother and sister were still packing things up back in their old apartment, Fran was at the back of the Mansion putting some things in order. It felt like they were alone. 

She won’t deny that the first time she laid eyes on Hugh Ransom Drysdale she was no better than any of the other girls he had come across in his life. Especially the one that he loved to bring to the house when he thought the was no one in.

To put it mildly, Ransom was handsome, no, he was beautiful. He had this carefree charisma and bad boy attitude that made him attractive to any hot-blooded human. He had inherited the intense blue eyes from his grandfather and his ability to talk himself out of trouble. 

Marta was standing next to the door, watching him arranging all his stuff inside the Bimmer. Was this the last time that she would have to endure his petulant behavior? Maybe. She wouldn’t miss him.

“Miss Cabrera. After all that went down in the last weeks, you must feel happy.” Ransom said as he walked towards her with his natural swagger as if nothing in the world mattered.

She was surprised he knew her last name, for the last three years she worked for Harlan he always referred to her as the Brazilian Nurse. Initially, Marta had wanted to correct him. That was back then when she low key wanted to engage him in a conversation.

“I never asked for any of this to happen.” She replied. The sun was setting making his blue eyes darker than normal. Ransom looked at her for a few long seconds. He was waiting for her to vomit the truth. But it never happened. 

“You know, I don’t care what happens to the rest of my family, but I was expecting to get some of the money from the old man. Not all of it, just my cut. When he told me that he was leaving all his money to you, all I could think was that you must be some great laid. But then my dear mother asked if you slept with Grandpa, you flat-out said no and nothing more came out of you. I asked him why. Why would he leave all the fortune that belongs to his family to the Salvadorian nurse?”

The second surprise of the day. He knew where she was from.

“Brazilian.” Marta interrupted him. “Brazilian Nurse.”

“You are from EL Salvador.”

“Yes, but you always referred to me as the Brazilian nurse.” Marta said annoyed. “Yeah, anyway. You know what his answer was. She had beaten me at GO more times that you have. If that’s not proof that he was out of his mind I don’t know what it is.” He mocked.

“I was his favorite.” He walked forward stepping into her personal space. “I always knew that. Ever since I was able, I helped him research for his novels, and then he fell ill and then you came along, beat him in a few GO games and you became the favorite. I thought you were fucking the old man. But you weren’t. Were you? No, for a moment you had your eyes on another Thrombey. Or should I say, Drysdale.” 

Now he was standing too close to her, enough for her to smell his musk and feel his heat. What the fuck? She had never given away that for a brief moment in time, at the beginning of her days working for Harlan she had a crush on the asshole in front of her. 

“I was your favorite, wasn’t I?”

As if somebody or something sucked the air out the Thrombeys estate, she couldn’t breathe well.

“You don’t have to answer that. Let’s make a deal. You give my cut and I will give you what you always wanted.” 

Martha's brain stopped working at his words. She was paralyzed and didn’t know what to do. He grabbed her chin while she held his gaze. Ransom began to caress her lips with his thumb. He had her in a trance. He did what she thought would never happen in a lifetime, something that she later opposed vehemently. Ransom kissed her. 

The man knew what he was doing. It was everything she expected to be. A fire grew in her stomach and then spread through her body. But something was amiss. This wasn’t what she imagined it would be. As soon as his lips stopped working on hers, she snapped out of her trance. 

“What do you say, Miss Cabrera?”

“No.” she said without much thought. This man wasn’t the idea she had in her mind for the first four months that it took her to begin to know him. This was a spoiled brad, entitled manchild that thought he can buy his way through things. 

He gave her a sly smile, cleaned his lips with the same thumb he caressed her lips with and sucked on it. Nodding his head in approval as if he tasted some expensive wine. 

“Perhaps I should have paid more attention to you in the past.” 

That infuriated her. As he walked away toward the Bimmer she yelled at him.

“I’m afraid you will have to call a cab and leave the Bimmer here. Hugh.”

“I’m afraid I bought the Bimmer from the old man. See you around, Miss Cabrera.”

Marta hoped this was the last interaction she had with this petulant man-baby.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smut ahead.

Alicia and she were getting ready for a summer fundraising event. One of the many things she had inherited from Harlan. There was a set of responsibilities now that she had money and not any money, Thrombey money. For the lasts two years, her life had been filled with fundraising events. Having to take Business courses to understand how to run the publishing company. Who to hire? It was a lot of things that she never thought she would have to take care of in her life. Two years ago, she thought Harlan put a heavy burden on her. Now she realized that was an understatement. 

Her mother's migration status was solved in a few months, but as much money as she had now her mother was still waiting for her citizenship. At least now her mother was legal in the country, so the authorities could not deport her.

Meg’s tuition was another thing. As much as she was hurt by her she decided that she shouldn’t pay for Joni’s mistakes. She set up an amount of money to go directly to pay for her tuition through a lawyer. She didn’t know if she would ever speak to Meg again, that was on her side to decide if she wanted to apologize or not. At the moment her situation was taken care of.

After months of a legal battle that cost more than she would imagine, Linda lost. There was nothing that could be done about Harlan’s Will.

Tonight, she had one of those fancy parties where she was supposed to mingle with the elite. Try to influence the world she now lived in. Marta guessed that coming from a different background than the rest of them would give the whole thing a new perspective. In part, it was true. Some of the people she met over the last two years were interested in her story and struggles before she had the Thrombey money.

She still called it Thrombey money, although it was hers. Guess, it will take more than two years to get accustomed to the bizarre situation she was thrown into. 

Sharing her story had changed the view these rich people had on people like her and her mother. Of course, her life wasn’t absent from those who still look down on her. They were polite but had ears she heard what they thought of her.

The word whore was thrown around more than once or twice. 

Gold-digger. Her favorite by far was Latina Grave Digging Bombshell. That one was remarkable, so specific to her that she couldn’t help but laugh when she heard it. It was both so stereotypical and so not her at the same time. 

Tonight, she was wearing a burgundy backless long dress. The sweet lady at the cloth store helped pick this dress. She immediately put it back in when she saw the price tag. How come people could spend that much money on a single dress. The lady convinced her to buy. Marta was sure she was getting a commission of off this, but she was right, she looked great in it. So, she used all the mental gymnastics to buy this dress. She promised herself that she would use it again. 

Her sister, and she arrived at the venue a little late. It wasn’t as if she was the guest of honor, so she thought her lack of presence wasn’t missed. 

It was a lovely ballroom with a big chandelier right in the center, tables spread all around the dance floor and a stage right in the front. 

Alicia being Alicia wore a long yellow dress that caused her to be the center of attention as soon as walked into the room. She was the second center of attention by proxy. She didn’t mind, her little sister looked so beautiful. 

Twenty-five minutes after she and her sister sat on their table, she noticed a pair of blue looking at her. Alicia elbowed her since she had noticed him too. They stared at each other for a while until he was interrupted by the woman that sat next to him. After that, he never looked in her direction beyond a small glance to watch the entire room.

Later in the evening, she was in the open bar trying to get the barman’s attention. She wanted a glass of wine. She had developed a taste for wine in the last two years, she enjoyed a glass of good wine now and then. 

The bar was filled with people all in the same situation. 

“Miss Cabrera is a shame that our paths haven’t crossed early on,” Ransom whispered in her ear.

She turned around. Her high heels weren’t enough to look at him in the eyes.

“Ransom, how are you doing?”

“I’m doing well. And I guess I don’t have to ask you how you’re doing. I see that you are doing very well.”  
Thanks?”

“You don’t have to be modest about it.” He said. “Are you trying to get the barman’s attention?” She nodded. “Here, let me give you and advice.” He took a ten-dollar bill from his pocket and flaunted.

The barman showed up in front of them right away. “What do you want?” Ransom asked her.

“A glass of pinot noir.” He gave her a quizzical look.

“A whiskey on the rock and a glass of pinot noir for the lady.” He asked the barman.

It took her second to realize how close they were, but so were the rest of the people around the bar. Their drinks were ready in less than a minute. 

“Thank you for that.” She offered. 

She felt so curious about the woman he was with this evening, so she made the next statement half-joking.

“I thought that it was a joke when you offered to sleep with me for your cut. But I guess if someone could pull off a career out of that it was you?” One of her most atrocious attempts to be funny. 

Ransom offered a half a smile. “I’m here with a friend and no I’m not sleeping with her. She is reporting this event. She is not used to this, and she thought to come here with someone expert in these types of scenarios.” 

And now she was the asshole. “I was just joking.”

“I know.” He said. “Let me ask you something. When I kissed you back in the house did you like it? Were your insides on fire? Be truthful. You don’t want to ruin that dress you’re wearing.”

He had trapped her there. It took her long seconds to answer.

“Fine, yes.” she admitted. 

I thought so. Sorry Miss Cabrera, I must leave, my date is waiting for me.”

He walked away from her. “It suits you by the way.” He said.

“What?” 

“It suits you.”

“What suits me?”

“Everything.”

She was driving through Maynard, doing some groceries. Her sister was in college and her mother was out of town. When she saw somebody being thrown out of the local bar. It was around six in the afternoon, normally this only happens until late at night. She was half surprised to find out that the said somebody was Ransom. 

She pulled up next to where he was lying on the floor and got out of the car.

“One would think that working-class people would like me now that I was one of them.” 

“I guess they remember you well. Ransom.”

“I wish they wouldn’t.”

His face was bruised and bloody.

“You’re bleeding.”

He touched his forehead and winced while watching the blood on his fingers.

“I guess I am.”

“Come on, hop in the car I’ll stitch you up.”

Back in the house, they were in one of the smalls living rooms. Marta had spread the first aide the table while Ransom sat on the chair waiting for her to tend to his wounds. They weren’t that bad. A bruise and a small cut. She cleaned the area and stitched it.

“What are you doing here?

“You brought me here remember?”

“I know that. I mean here, in town. Why did you go into the bar?”

“Would you believe me if I tell you that I miss this? This town, the house. Harlan. I know I don’t seem like the type. But I never pictured me not coming back to this house.”  


She could understand that. He spent his childhood here.

“This might be your house now. Miss Cabrera, but this used to be my home.”

For a brief moment, she felt sorry for the man in front of her. She was sure he was still an asshole though.

“What did you do that they threw out?”

“I tried to relate.” He said. Huge Ransom Drysdale trying to relate to ordinary people. The times she lived in.

“They reminded me of what huge prick I am, and I gave them the worst comeback I could think of.” He continued. 

“What did you say to them?”

“I told them that I might not have the money, but I still had class.”

“Jesus Ransom, was that on purpose?”

He sat there looking at through the window. “I don’t know, maybe.”

“You need to work on your social skills.” She half-joked.

Marta finished stitching him up and began to gather the first aid kit.

“Well, Miss Cabrera I think this is it for me.”

“You should stay for a while. I have to make sure you don’t convulse behind the wheel.”

“Always so kind.”

“More like professional ethic.” 

“Whatever you say.”

After dinner, for some reason, she had brought up a GO set game. He smiled big at her as if he was expecting in.

“Finally, I will witness a mind-bending GO match, enough to make an old man go nuts.”

“If you’re going to behave like this, I will put it away.” 

“Please no, I want to see.” 

When she won the third match in a row, she suggested that he wasn’t in his best capacity due to his injury he told her that he was fine that he had had worse. 

It was the end of their fifth match, and it didn’t look like he was about to win when he took the board and flipped it over. She had a flashback of Harlan doing the same thing. For a moment there it felt as if it was three years ago when her world wasn’t so complicated. 

On impulse, she crossed to his side crawling through the coffee table and straddled him. She kissed him, and he returned the kiss with the same passion. She was running out air, she stopped in between heavy panting he asked.

“Do you want to do this?”

“Yes.” she moaned. 

They continued kissing until they were completely naked on the couch. She was still straddling him. He used his hand to guide through until he was completely inside her. He started to thrust up into her faster than she liked it, so she took hold of the situation and set her pace. Yes, this was much better. Ransom laughed.  


She could feel him all around her. The unbearable heat, the intoxicating smell of his body and air he exhaled mingling hers. 

In defiance, he moved her pelvis to a different angle. She could feel deeper moving inside her. Rubbing her most sensitive part. Something inside her began to coil. 

So, this was it. A battle of wills. 

_Fine Ransom Drysdale watch me win._

She went to nursing school, she studied anatomy, she knew what to do.

She squeezed her pelvis muscle and watch Ransom's face contour into sheer pleasure.

“Fuck Cabrera, you’re going to kill me.”

“It’s Marta.”

“I know.” Cocky asshole. 

The continued like this for a while at her own slow pace. The coil that formed was let loose and her whole body shook in a shattering orgasm. Ransom took this opportunity and thrust faster into her. She heard him moaning her name as he came inside her. 

He placed her between him and the inside of the couch, they both were panting. When she stopped gathering herself from the second mind-blowing orgasm of the night, she thought that she should have taken Ransom’s offer back then, they could have worked something up. God the man was good at this. She felt like she needed to pay.

“It is always the quiet ones,” Ransom said. Interrupting her line of thought. 

“Asshole.” She smiled.

He kissed her neck and the rest of her body, when he kissed in the lips, she felt his hardness.

Again? she thought. Yes, again.

Marta woke up laying on the couch with a blanket covering her body and a note on the coffee table that read.

Thanks for the stitches.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is how it ends. I think.

Every year, a day after Harlan’s death, she went to visit his gravestone. She didn’t want to run into Harlan’s family. At least not when they were together. Last thing she heard about them Linda has gotten a divorce from Richard after finding out he’s been cheating on her. Rumor had it, he begged like a child. Walter had to find a job at a paper company while Donna had a descent into alcoholism. Jacob was in college and from time to time he would harass Alice on twitter. Meg had finished college and was now working overseas. Joni was doing fine in Los Angeles, it was a great place to begin a lifestyle business. Alicia liked to joke about this.

_She is selling candles and scented oil to frustrated housewives with a lot of spare money._

Marta heard that Wanetta passed away a year ago. She went to the grave and brought her flowers. 

And then there was Ransom. She still remembered vividly every detail of the night they spent together. Some nights she fantasized about it while her hand worked beneath her underwear. After that night she got curious about him. Turned out he was right, the woman he was with the night of the fundraising was his friends. She was a journalist from a magazine that tracks the lives of the wealthy. Far more interesting was what he was doing now. All the time he spent helping Harlan research paid off. He not only found a job as an editor; he was successful at it. The writers that he worked sold very well, some of them made it into the best-selling lists. 

As she walked to Harlan’s grave, she saw a familiar figure. At first, she hesitated to approach. He left her a note thanking her and never tried to contact her, which was almost four months ago. She didn't know what to do with all the feelings that came out of the aftermath, she didn’t try to contact him either. She stopped for a moment, thinking about how to approach this situation. Her mind gave up and she continued walking. 

They were two grown adults; it wasn’t the first time this had happened to her. One time in college she shared a classroom with a guy she slept several times with and hoped she would never see him again. It was awkward the first week, but then they didn’t mind each other. It was no different now. Besides, she doubted she would see him again for a long time. 

She stood right in front of the tombstone. Ransom was silent, looking at it. His hands in his pockets. Neither of them spoke for a long while. She wasn’t sure if she should interrupt his deep thought just to say hi. So, they stood there. 

While Ransom was meditating, she did her own. The same questions she had in her mind at the moment of Harlan’s Will reveal, started to surge again. 

Was this some sort of prank? Harlan’s ultimate laugh at the world? Was there any sense in this madness? Why her? Why like this? Why all the money? She wasn’t expecting it. If, he had asked her Marta would have been content with enough to fix her mother migration status and her sister college’s tuition. Yes, having money was good, but Harlan's money was a burden. So much was expected of her. Deal with situations she wasn’t used to from one day to next, not to mention the people she had to deal with. Even with all the money that she had, they looked at her as an intruder. Harlan knew all those, he was smart. Why would he do this to her?

“I know why he did it.”

Ransom interrupted her thoughts. 

“You do?” She asked him.

“He liked to push people. All his life he did that, in a subtle way. My mom understood this but took it to the next level. Harlan saw Linda's mistake from a mile away. That’s why when Uncle Walt asked grandpa for a job at the company he said yes. He was hoping he could turn it into something of his own, instead, he only wanted more money out of the same ideas. When Walt told about making movies out of his book Grandpa said not right away.”

“And then he met you. He saw how happy and great you were at your job, that wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. How you with your simple life had achieved something he never thought his children would. You were happy. Perhaps he thought that what his family needed were simple lives. Which is funny because he didn’t live a simple life.” 

There was no way to know if these were Harlan’s thoughts, but the fact that Ransom came up with this theory was a lot to say. 

“How did he push you?” she was curious.

“He left me out of his Will.”

“How do you feel about it now?” 

“You are the first person who asks me that.” He laughed. 

“I don’t feel much now. Back then it was another story. I think there is a lesson here I just don’t know what it is yet.”

“I heard that you are working for a publishing house in Boston.” She blurted out. 

He smiled at her. “Are you spying on me, Miss Cabrera?”

“No. I was not. I was thinking that perhaps you would like to work for Thrombey’s Publishing House since it belonged to your grandfather. I saw that you were good at it. Your books are doing really well.” 

The silly smiled that he had intensified. “You’re offering me a job?” He walked to her. He closed in the space between them, very much like that day in front of the Thrombeys’ mansion. “You want to be my boss? Tell me what to do?”

Marta's throat went dry. She cleared it. “Ah. You would work for me, but you wouldn’t be under me.” 

“So, I would be on top of you?” He smirked. 

“No.” She had a flashback of that night.” What I mean is that I would not be your direct boss.” She stepped back trying to put some distance between them.

“Yeah, but who’s going to be on top?”

Fucking asshole. “I’m being serious. We could use a talented editor like you.” 

“Nah. I’ll pass.” 

“Seriously? You could be working for your family company.”

“Exactly. I don’t want to end up like Walt. But I wouldn’t mind being bossed around by you from time to time.” 

Marta opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out of it. He was clearly enjoying her display of shock and confusion because he started to laugh out loud like she never has seen him before. He continued laughing even harder almost borderline mockery and Marta started to get piss. 

“You fucking asshole.” She yelled at him and walked away. 

“No, wait. Marta.” He used her name. She turned.

“God, your face. I will stop.” He cracked. I swear. He composed himself this time. “Sorry about that. Have dinner with me this weekend.” 

“If this is your way to apologize, a sorry would be enough.”

“No. no. I’m serious now. Have dinner with me. As a date. I’ll pick you up, I’ll pay and everything.”

Marta stood there looking at him and waging whether he was being sincere or not. Whether if she should go out on a date with this man. She was taking her time and Ransom's face began to look worried.

“Fine, I’ll go. Pick me up at seven.” 

“Yes. After dinner, we can discuss those lusty eyes you put on when I mentioned that you can boss me around and who’s gonna be on top.”

“Fuck you, Ransom.” 

“Yes, exactly.”

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment if you want, telling whatever.


End file.
